A Taste of the Islands

Well known for its delicious patties, locally baked goods and great value local lunches, Island Taste has been at the heart of Cayman’s culinary scene for nearly 35 years.

Back in 1975 Virginia and Graham Thompson started the business from scratch and it has since grown into a force of its own popular with locals and tourists alike.

So what is the secret to its success? “It has excellent service, good food and it’s unique,” explains founder Mrs. Thompson. “It has its own little features that people have always remembered us by from the day we opened.

“It’s always been a place where people come and feel very welcome and comfortable. It just speaks for itself,” she said.

Island Taste, which now employs 14 people, originally started with just a recipe for patties being made from its starting quarters on the waterfront in George Town.

“Then as we grew we decided we would go into cooking native dishes. That grew very fast and we had to expand the building,” explained Ms Thompson.

They have now been 10 years at their current location in Caymanian Village, North Sound Way in George Town.

But it’s not just locals who savour the delicious goodies on offer. Tourists come in and order frozen patties to take back to the US with them, explained manager Marc Garreffa.

Island Taste offers a wholesale bakery that produces local patties, pastries and bread.

“We have three drivers that deliver six days a week out on the road,” said Mr. Garreffa.

The wholesale goods are distributed to supermarkets, schools, gas stations, shops – from West Bay right out to East End.

They also have a retail store at Caymanian Village. While bread is order-only, everything else is also available at the retail shop.

Their patty flavours consist of beef, chicken and vegetable, and are made on-island without the use of food additive monosodium glutamate. They also produce cocktail patties.

The company also imports Juici Beef patties from Jamaica to compliment their own patties.

“The Jamaicans like their patty and the Caymanians like their patty. It’s two very different markets,” explained Mr. Garreffa.